Trace-carrier



(No Model.)

W. P. KELLOGG.

TRACE CARRIER.

No. 606,347. Patented June 28, 18981.

gV/Z/OK Rwiff was a M llirnn ra'rns 'A'rn'r ri e TRACE-CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 606,347, dated June 28, 1898.

Application fil d March 26, 1897. Renewed May 11, 1898. Serial No. 680,4l9i (N0 model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM P. KELLOGG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Troy, county of Rensselaer, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Back-Band Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to such improvements; and it consists of the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and subsequently claimed.

Reference may be had to the accompan yin g drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several figures.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a front elevation of my improved buckle unattached and showing part of a trace-chain in a supported position. Fig. 2 is a side or edge view of the same. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing my invention in a modified form.

My invention comprises an improvement upon that well-known form of back -band buckle which has a web-plate A, provided with parallel cross-slots A and A adapted to receive the webbing, and with a hook B, adapted to enter one of the links 13 of a traceehain and support the trace, also having a wedge-plate 0, provided with end journals 0, having hearings in the ears A and A on the web-plate, all constructed in the usual wellknown manner.

My improvement relates to means for looking the trace-chain within the hook l3. Va-

rious devices have been heretofore devised for this purpose, and it would seem to be a very diflicult as well as important matter.

My improvement consists in making the lower side edges (3 of the wedge-plate and the upper end B of the hook approximately meet andin projecting the middle portion of the wedge-plate down considerably below the horizontally-extended edges 0 and the hook end B in the form of a tongue D, which overlies and laps the hook, as shown. This form of construction makes aperfect lock, is easily constructed, cheap, and durable, and presents asymmetrical and ornamental appearance.

As the trace-chain is rattled about in use the linkoontaining the hook slips up on the hook and tends to open the wedgeplate; but the link must pass the lower end of tongue D before it can engage the main plate to communicate an opening tendency, and after it passes such lower end it incloses both the tongue and hook,as indicated by dottedlines in Fig. 2, thereby holding the wedge-plate in a closed position. Before the link can slide above the upper end B of the hook it ongages the lower plate edges 0 which prevent the link from assuming any position near the upper part of the hook'in which it will not positively lock the hook and tongue together, so' that the link cannot escape from the hook; but it is essential that the lower edges of the wedge-plate should be provided with some kind of stop which will prevent the link from slipping up the tonguepast the upper end of the hook.

In Fig. 2 I have shown the lower edges laterally extended on opposite sides of the tongue approximately inhorizontal line with the up per end of the hook.

In Fig. 3 I have shown the wedge-plate tongue bent inwardly to form the wedgingbevel D, which will serve to bind the tongue and hook together when the trace-link rises, as shown in Fig. 3, so tightly that the wedgeplate is wholly incapable of movement relatively to theweb-plate, thereby preventing the wear upon the webbin g caused by frequent though slight movements of the wedge plate and the web-engaging teeth located on such plate.

'I am aware that various forms of construc tion have been proposed which include a stop across the mouth of the hook, usually to be formed by bending a lower part of the wedge:

plate into a position at right angles to the body of the plate, and I do not claim any such form of construction. The plate being of comparatively thick sheet metal is mate rially weakened when bent at right angles and the bent portion is easily broken off.

By makingthe buckle as shown in Fig. 3 of my drawings the lower edgesof the body part of the plate, being in line with the top of the hook, form, without any bending, a sufficient stop to prevent the escape of the chain from the hook.

By giving a slight bend or inclination to the overlapping tongue, as shown in Fig. 3, I pro vide a stop which not only prevents the escape of the chain from the hook, but also any vibratory opening-and-closing movement of the Wedge-plate to wear the webbing.

If the lapping tongue passed down on one or both sides of the hook, as has been proposed, instead of over-0r outside of the hook, the jerky movements of the link would cause the link to directly engage the side lapping parts and produce the vibratory opening-andclosing movements of the tongue and plate above referred to.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a back-band buckle, the combination with the web-plate provided with parallel jm'y hand this 23d day of March, 1897.

web-slots and journal-bearings, of an upwardly-t urned trace-hook depending from the lower side of the web-plate, a wedge-plate journaled in the web-plate, a tongue compris- 51 iug a downward extension of the wedge-plate 5 ,plate, inclined outwardly from the outer side of hook to the lower edge of the wedge-plate whereby it forms a stop outside the mouth of the hook for looking a chain upon the hook and the Wedge-plate against vibratory open- .iing-an'd-closin'g movements, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set WM. P. KELLOGG. Witnesses":

GEO; A. Mosnnn, FRANK O. CURTIS. 

